Martial Arts: Starting with Bajiquan, I will prove my divine power through the ultimate path!

Shi Wen glanced at the man and immediately nodded. "Hello, I've come to become your apprentice."

The young man was about 17 years old.

His family must be well-off, as he was willing to wear a short outfit made of fine cotton cloth to practice martial arts. The collar and cuffs were trimmed with brocade, and the shorts he wore were specially bound at the cuffs. He wore soft-soled leather boots, and his clothes were bound with brocade ribbons. He also wore leather wrist guards and knee pads, and a forehead protector.

I reckon this outfit alone would be enough for his family to earn for ten or eight years without eating or drinking.

"Young man, come in and have a seat. I'll go tell Master Li right away."

Yan Kai smiled and jogged all the way to the inner courtyard.

He came out after a moment, smiling, and said, "Master Li said you should go to the inner courtyard to see him."

"Okay, thank you, senior brother!"

Shi Wen cupped his hands in greeting and said, "My name is Shi Wen. May I ask how you should address me, Senior Brother?"

"Hahaha, no need to be so polite. My name is Yan Kai, and I've only been with Master Li for half a year. Come on, I'll take you to see Master Li."

Shi Wen followed Yan Kai into the courtyard.

The yard is quite large and spacious, with sandbags, stone weights and other equipment placed in specific locations.

Most of the people in the courtyard were practicing stance training or boxing.

Here, there is no one to supervise.

If you want to practice, then practice; if you don't want to practice, then go sit under a tree and relax. If you don't even come to practice, no one will pay any attention to you.

It emphasizes freedom and spontaneity.

Compared to the forty or fifty people in the outer courtyard, there were fewer than ten people in the inner courtyard.

They were all strong and powerful, with sharp eyes, and the sound of their punches was particularly powerful.

The training equipment in the inner courtyard was also much more numerous than that in the outer courtyard; Shi Wen even saw a weapons rack.

The weapons on those shelves were all sharpened.

"Master Li, this young man has come to become my disciple today," Yan Kai said quickly.

Many inner court disciples glanced at it and then looked away.

He continued practicing his skills, too lazy to pay attention to these disciples who came and went like a never-ending stream.

Only by refining one's qi and blood can one enter the inner courtyard.

Only then can one be considered a true disciple and practice true martial arts!

Under the tree.

A tall, thin middle-aged man sat on a stone bench. He had an ordinary appearance and a mustache, but nothing particularly special about him.

He was smoking a pipe, puffing out smoke, "Come here and let me take a look."

"yes!"

Shi Wen quickly stepped forward.

Li Heshan got up and walked towards him, smoking a cigarette as he looked Shi Wen up and down.

When Li Heshan stood up.

Shi Wen then noticed that this unassuming man was nearly 1.9 meters tall. Although he was thin, his sharp eyes were like knives, making people feel cold inside, as if they were being stared at by a ferocious beast!

Suddenly, Li Heshan made his move.

Before Shi Wen could even see the other person's movements clearly, he suddenly felt a sharp pain all over his body.

It turned out that Li Heshan was examining his bone structure.

"15 years old, right? He has the aptitude of a fifth-grade person and is of average appearance. If he is willing to practice boxing, he might be able to learn some techniques for self-defense."

Li Heshan sat back down on the stone bench and smoked his pipe. "Yan Kai, take him to your senior sister to pay his tuition later, and then you take care of him for two days and teach him the basics."

The inner disciples nearby turned their attention to them.

But he quickly looked away.

Medium build, neither too tall nor too short.

In Heiyun County, with a population of four to five hundred thousand, they are a dime a dozen and not particularly outstanding.

Moreover, there is not much advantage to practicing martial arts at the age of 15.

Perhaps those with perseverance and determination will have the opportunity to hone their skills and develop their inner strength.

Unfortunately, there are very few people like this; you'd be lucky to find one in a thousand.

Most of the people who come to learn martial arts at this age are from poor families with no other options. They use their meager savings to try martial arts and hope to make a name for themselves.

But few people have the patience to learn boxing.

Even if you have the patience to keep learning, it's difficult to develop your health and vitality if you don't have the money to buy medicine to nourish your body or eat meat.

It's rare for a true dragon to emerge from the wilderness!

"Yes! This disciple understands."

Yan Kai led Shi Wen to a room in the inner courtyard.

Inside, a young woman in her late teens was calculating accounts.

She was also very tall, about 175cm, half a head taller than Shi Wendu. She was wearing a light blue ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) and her hair was simply tied up with a hairpin.

His face was not as ordinary and sharp as Li Heshan's.

She is beautiful, gentle, and sweet.

She has the kind of senior sister vibe that Shi Wen remembers.

"Senior Sister Li, another person has come to ask to become your disciple today."

Before entering, Yan Kai straightened his clothes and spoke in a much softer voice, as if afraid of offending his senior sister.

"Okay, I understand."

Li Qianqian glanced at Shi Wen's clothes and seemed to sigh silently.

She opened her disciple's account book and said softly, "Tell me your name and age."

Shi Wen quickly replied, "Hello, Senior Sister Li. My name is Shi Wen, and I am 15 years old."

"Yes, Master Li teaches apprentices for at least two months, including one lunch and one bowl of medicinal soup in the afternoon. The fee is nine strings of cash. Is that alright with you?"

Li Qianqian gazed into his eyes.

"Senior sister, I'm fine."

Shi Wen nodded.

He came to Li the Head-Cutter to learn martial arts because the tuition was cheap.

If you were to learn martial arts from those martial arts masters, it would cost more money and have more requirements.

Moreover, Li the Head-Cutter was quite famous in Heiyun County.

Just recently, during a friendly sparring match...

He defeated several famous martial arts masters in succession and won a lot of prize money!

"In that case, you can pay."

Li Qianqian nodded, and Shi Wen took the money out of the basket and placed it on the table in bunches, along with a lot of loose copper coins.

Li Qianqian and Yan Kai's expressions changed slightly.

The two could also see that the young man in front of them was going to take a desperate gamble.

But martial arts are not so easy to master.

Those who come to learn from the master often arrive full of enthusiasm but leave disappointed.

"Precious coins? We don't accept precious coins here."

Li Qianqian shook her head.

You have to exchange precious coins on the black market at a ratio of 20 to 1. You can't get nine strings of cash no matter what you do. Who wants precious coins?

Shi Wen, who was counting the precious coins, suddenly broke out in a sweat.

Some are at a loss.

He originally thought that the money from selling the land, plus some savings, would be enough for his tuition.

I didn't expect they wouldn't accept money here.

Seeing the boy's embarrassed appearance, Yan Kai took out two strings of copper coins from his pocket and said with a smile, "Senior Sister Li, he can probably exchange this for seven strings of coins. I happen to have two strings of coins here, so it's nine strings of coins in total. Can you count them and see if it's enough?"

Li Qianqian glanced at Yan Kai, then silently wrote down Shi Wen's name.

Then he took out two sets of clothes from the cabinet, "From now on, you are a disciple of our academy."

"Thank you, Senior Sister Li."

Shi Wen took the clothes, turned around and said earnestly to Yan Kai, "Senior Brother Yan, thank you. I will pay you back when I have money in the future."

"It's nothing, just a little money. Come on, junior brother, I'll teach you the basics."

Yan Kai chuckled and put his arm around his shoulder, saying, "Speaking of which, I think you're quite handsome. Seeing you is like seeing a younger brother in my family. Your expression just now made me feel sorry for you. You don't need to feel guilty about helping you. This little bit of money is nothing to me."

Shi Wen listened quietly to Yan Kai's endless chatter.

I kept this kindness in my heart.

This amount of money might not be much to the other party, but it was a lifesaver for him.

He will never forget this kindness!

Li Qianqian suddenly spoke up, "Junior Brother Yan, come here for a moment."

Yan Kai was taken aback. He told Shi Wen to leave first, then stayed behind. "Senior Sister Li, is there something you need?"

"Actually, you don't need to help these people. You've helped quite a few people in the past six months, but what good has it done besides wasting money?"

Li Qianqian said seriously, "It would be better to use this money to buy meat instead of wasting it."

"You said you've helped many people, but in the end, who among them remembers your kindness?"

"There's no affection in this little courtyard. Once people are gone, the affection is gone too. Don't waste this money anymore, understand?"

"Don't read those martial arts novels anymore. The martial arts world is full of deceit and treachery, there's no brotherhood. If I remember correctly, Junior Brother Yan, you've been in the academy for six months, and you're still only at the early stage of Blood Tempering, right? Junior Brother Wei Shan joined the academy a month later than you, and his aptitude is the same as yours, but he's already at the mid-stage of Blood Tempering."

"You're 17 this year. If you can't break through to the Blood Coagulation stage by the end of the year, your cultivation will be even more difficult..."

Under Li Qianqian's stern reprimand.

Yan Kai lowered his head, a look of shame on his face.

After repeatedly assuring Li Qianqian.

I just left.

"Let's go, Junior Brother Shi. I'll go teach you the basics now. Once you've learned the basics, you can decide whether you want to go back and rest today or come back to practice tomorrow. It doesn't matter."

"I'll guide you these next couple of days. Just ask me if you don't understand anything."

Yan Kai called out to Shi Wen as he went out.

Shi Wen was outside the door and heard their conversation.

He nodded without saying anything and followed Yan Kai away.

The two arrived at the outer courtyard, and Yan Kai led him to an open space to begin teaching him.

"The foreign language department teaches 'Bajiquan Basic Skills for Beginners,' but don't underestimate these basic skills. If you master them, you can easily take on three to five people."

"If you can refine your qi and blood using the 'Basic Skills,' even a dozen strong men wouldn't be a match for you!"

"Once you've refined your blood and qi and become a Blood Refining Stage martial artist, you can enter the Inner Academy. Inner Academy disciples enjoy even more benefits."

"Only by becoming an inner disciple will Master Li teach you the true 'Six Harmonies Eight Extremes Fist'. I cannot presume to teach it to you now. Outer disciples who have not honed their qi and blood dare to secretly practice inner martial arts. Master Li will issue a kill order in the martial arts world, and there will be no place for you to live in Black Cloud County."

Upon hearing this, Shi Wen nodded earnestly, "Senior Brother Yan, I understand."

"Junior brother, watch carefully. The 'Bajiquan Basic Training for Beginners' focuses on the Two-Element Stance and the Breaking Step. You need to sink your shoulders and drop your elbows, tuck your chest and straighten your back. When you reach the point where your lower body is rooted and your power is transmitted, you will be able to, like your senior brother, condense the scattered power in your body into a powerful force, and unleash it at a single point, generating several times the power!"

"Supporting punch, splitting mountain palm, facing palm, silk-reeling crushing punch, heart-top elbow, and mountain-sticking lean are the core killing moves of basic skills."

"Don't underestimate six moves. If you master them, you can kill a strong, burly man with a single blow. Master Li's Bajiquan emphasizes explosive power; a small force can move a thousand pounds!"

"Once you can stand in the Two Elements Stance and walk the 'Breakthrough Step', then practice slow, stationary steps to find your strength, and practice explosive movements with fast, agile steps."

"The essence begins in the feet, travels through the feet, is controlled by the waist, and reaches the extremities, thereby invigorating the blood and energy throughout the body and unleashing the full power of all the muscles at a single point!"

Yan Kai demonstrated a set of basic skills on the spot.

While the basic skills sound ordinary, Yan Kai's practice is like the roar of a beast, with a burst of heat rising from his head as he moves.

The moves he made were exceptionally fierce and powerful!

He was originally a carefree person, but suddenly became fierce, like a tiger descending the mountain.

Shi Wen stared intently at it.

"Just these few moves. Once you've mastered the basics and can walk the basic steps, you can practice them again. With diligent practice, you can eventually hone your skills and become a Blood Tempering stage martial artist, just like your senior brother!"

At this point...

Yan Kai revealed a smug smile, "Back then, your senior brother only practiced the 'Basic Skills' for a month and a half before becoming a Blood Tempering Stage martial artist!"

"If you can't develop your Qi and blood even after two months of practicing basic skills, then your potential is probably limited."

"Practicing martial arts looks impressive, but many people can't endure the hardships of this profession. I've seen many junior brothers start practicing martial arts with great enthusiasm, but after ten days or so, they only practice sporadically, and then they disappear from the scene altogether."

Yan Kai sighed with emotion.

He began to teach Shi Wen the Two Elements Stance, the Breakthrough Step, and the Six Killing Moves, step by step.

He gave a few instructions and then went to practice his skills.

Perhaps it was the shame she felt after what Li Qianqian had just said.

Yan Kaisheng felt a surge of fighting spirit. He lifted two hundred-pound stone weights with both hands, practiced stance training with his arms parallel to the ground, and his legs remained firmly planted on the ground like old pine trees!

Shi Wen recalled his actions just now.

I started figuring it out on my own.

To be honest, it looked easy for Yan Kai to practice, but it was really difficult when I tried it myself.

To effectively train, one must stand in the Two Elements Stance for at least half an hour.

Chuangbu gritted his teeth and practiced crookedly for a long time, his posture awkward, before he finally finished the half-hour standing exercise.

After completing the stance training, we practiced the stepping technique.

Then connect those six killing moves together.

All morning.

Shi Wen practiced until he was drenched in sweat and panting heavily, barely managing to complete a full set of basic skills once.

His moves were crooked and ineffective, lacking any core or essence.

obviously.

Shi Wen did not have much talent in martial arts.

"I don't know... if it's successful."

Shi Wen looked down at the palm of his left hand, a look of anticipation in his eyes.

Soon, a line of words appeared in the palm of his hand.

【Extreme Seal】

[The martial arts manual "Bajiquan Basic Introductory Skills" has been detected. Is it digitized?]